Anime! Anime! reports that 17 Japanese copyright holder groups have formed a committee to plan for the establishment of a new copyright portal next year. ANN has a translation:

A committee formed by 17 of Japan's copyright holder groups is planning to open a free Internet portal with a searchable database system of product details and copyright information for music, movies, television, music, literature, comics, anime, art/photo, and games next January. The objective is to provide convenient access to any media item's author, credited staff, and copyright information.

Back in May, Tajima T. Yasue (pen name) officially apologized to Shogakukan and Fujiko Production for the now-legendary Doraemon doujinshi, and announced that he will pay an undisclosed amount of money for the settlement based on the sales generated by the doujinshi (rumored to be several million yen).

Many doujinshi creators have criticized Shogakukan for taking legal actions and generally making a big deal out of one doujinshi. Shogakukan responded by saying the doujinshi has sold over 13,000 copies, which has far surpassed the normal sales of a doujinshi, and some people have even started asking if the story was true.

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One of the three Winny file-sharer arrested on May 18 for uploading manga to Japan's Winny file-sharing system was found guilty on June 20th. According to the report, the 29-year-old defendant from Osaka will be facing 1 year of prison and 3 years of probation.

Source: Asahi Shimbun

One of the Winny file-sharer arrested in May may face up to one year in prison, Sports Hochi reports. ANN has the translation:

The 29-year-old defendant from Osaka is the oldest of the three arrested on May 18 for uploading manga magazines to Japan's Winny file-sharing system. The defense requested a suspended sentence since its client is a first-time defendant. The defendant was charged with violating Japan's Copyright Act.

What is plagiarism? Plagiarism is the act of claiming original authorship or incorporating material from someone else's work into your own work without crediting the original author, sometimes doing such an act unconsciously is also considered plagiarism.

When it comes to manga and plagiarism, things never end well. Sometimes manga found guilty of plagiarizing are suspended and recalled, and some authors even stop working. There are also times when people, or even an entire nation, get away with nothing. The world of manga plagiarism is full of interesting, sad, and sometimes funny tales.

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Kokoro Media reports that a recent copyright ruling in Japan from a victory by JASRAC could have serious consequences on manga scanlation:

If online services for individuals can be shut down because the servers might be storing copyrighted material, then JASRAC [or some other copyright holder] could apply similar pressure to other existing 'personal use??? services such as Yahoo???s Briefcase and Apple???s .Mac.

Via: Journalista

The Library of Congress has opened a website that aims to teach children the basics of copyright with the help of manga-styled artworks.

Source: animeOnlime

Anime Uk News reports that VIZ Media has sent several cease and desist letters to Death Note fan sites and fansub groups working on Death Note. A copy of the letter can be found here.

So now you've read the "Idiot's Guide to Online Copyright Issues" from Part I and an in-depth analysis of the laws from Part II, what's left? We took the ideas explored in Part I, and created a questionnaire, which we then sent to various website/blog authors and people from around the online scene.

The questionnaire looks as follows:

Person A writes an article in Japanese, Person B translates Person A's article
into English and posts it on his own website...

1. Without asking for permission first or giving credit
2. Gives credit but did not ask for permission
3. Got permission and gave credit

One of the first people we contacted, surprisingly, is not involved with the anime/manga community at all. However, this doesn't mean you should skip what he has to say. Allow me to introduce Jonathan Bailey from Plagiarism Today, a site "targeted at Webmasters and copyright holders regarding the issue of plagiarism online."

*We would also like to thank Jonathan Bailey for helping out with this project, providing us with valuable information related to copyright and plagiarism issues.

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In Part I, we introduce you to the basic concept of copyright infringement and plagiarism, and how they apply to translating contents on the internet. For Part II, we contacted Ronnor from the Japanese law blog called Ahowota Law Student News. Ronnar has expressed his own view on the matter, below is a translation of Ronnor's article (translated with Ronnor's approval, of course!):

Unauthorized Translation and Copyright Law

1. Background information on the problem

Like the Japanese - no, even more than the Japanese - overseas otaku want to know the latest information about Japan's anime and manga. As a comparatively recent example, the problem of Rozen Maiden's hiatus was given headline treatment on an overseas site (*1). However, unless the work is in the The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (*2) class, with plans for world-wide development, the original publishers hardly ever give English press releases. Information is transmitted only in Japanese, a minority language in the global scheme.

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